(RSS-RO) Any idea on how to un-edit the ion engines back to stock thrust?

[BadModder54]

I only ask for my own peace of mind, as trying to do a Mercury orbiter/lander mission with a "real" ion engine was basically impossible, at least without actual NASA software. I love Realism Overhaul, except for that little piece of it. Any pointers would be very much appreciated. Thanks for your time!

[Laie]

Not sure where you're coming from... let's start small:

Like most every mod, RO relies on ModuleManager (itself a mod) to apply patches to configuration files while they are being loaded. The main benefit of that approach is that you can install and uninstall mods at leisure and don't have to worry about what happens to the game's data files in your install: they remain unchanged at all times.

ModuleManager creates a file named "ModuleManager.ConfigCache" in your Gamedata folder. That's the complete config with all patches which is then loaded into the game. Keep that in mind. Whenever you try to mod something and it doesn't work as expected, checking the ConfigCache is a first step in finding out what went wrong.

As for your specific question:
Look at /GameData/RealismOverhaul/RO_SuggestedMods/Squad/RO_Squad_Engines.cfg

search for "ionEngine" -- there's a set of patches doing stuff, you'll probably be most interested in the Thrust values. Tampering with that file may or may not work for you, depending on whether there's later patches that overwrite the values you need.

Realism Overhaul is a whole layer cake of patches, it's not uncommon that a part is patched several times over. Some are changed beyond recognition. If your part belongs to that class, don't try to unravel that knot. That way lies madness. Just write another MM patch of your own, and make sure that it's applied after everything else:

@PART[name]:FINAL{ ...stuff... }

Hope that helps.

[BadModder54]

Thanks, you just made my Neptune orbiter not cost me chromosomes!